I am so glad that DP seems to back properly. The place has great memories for me as it was where I had my first race back in the days of the Donington Park Production GT Series.
From our point of view with the problems at Kyalami, It appears that the banks etc. maybe do have some kind of heart
We have heard that the bank with the control of the property have said that the place does have a future as a race circuit, and though there maybe some form of development on the site, the circuit will be kept and used. Apparently all will become clearer after June of this year when the dreaded "Greeks" will fall away as their part of the disaster falls away.
All we can hope for then is a good new future for the place.

Thanks for that post Dank . Nice to hear good news for Kyalami Jock and hope things go okay down there buddy !! Wowza!!! Tony (Girraffe) yeah it`s a full year since the first great sunny day we had the Save Donington event ...funny how the sun has shined all day here for the first time all day Sunday kinda spooky that it was the same a year ago . Dank...I am at DP all weekend for the Historic event so will look at getting my tickets sorted asap, maybe Thursday as I am going to Donington for the Masters practise day. Happy Days!!

TNFers were about in plenty yesterday; Ted (Ferret) Walker chasing his hat down the pit lane, a resurgent Cyrilmac, Keith (Pink Snail) Morales and his pal Scott, Ian (pullman99) Robinson (just popped out of the office for the 2nd day on the trot!), arch enthusiasts & watch collectors the bros. Shelbourne, Ian & Michael dispensing coffee yet again (thanks chaps!) & a cameo appearance reported in the cafe(?!?!) of the elusive & debonair Roger Clark accompanied by the perennially banned Adam Ferrington, ostensibly there just in order to collect some photos from Ted.................. Simon Hadfield was present helping clients out too...............

This G10 was not 'discovered' in the USA, as it has been living there for some years now but has happily been repatriated and supposedly returned to something like original condition, although it was a soft top when raced by Chris Meek. However, the only other G10, the coupe JGF295D did indeed come to light in the USA last year, having been standing in someone's shed for the last 25 years. Apparently they thought it might be a TVR when they bought it! It needs a full restoration, unsurprisingly.

I mean't by 'discovered' in the USA as much as that is where Jonathan & Andrew of Gelscoe found it, apparently in a rather sorry state.

The guys are searching for period pics of the car at Brands in 1965 & they believe that Chris also raced the car elsewhere. If anyone can be of assistance, can they please e-mail Andy Newall at: info@gelscoemotorsport.com

Hi there Pink Snail et al. I am so glad that the circuit is moving forward again at full speed. Just to update you on the Kyalami saga. The final court decision has been set down and thank the Lord the "Greeks" have been told to pi.. off by the Judge. A slightly odd bit of the ruling was the statement that the circuit had to be auctioned off for a minimum figure of R127M, but it seems that the 2 banks are now coming to a settlement on this. The end result is that the new owner bank is going to redevelop the site, and at the same time maintain the site as a going concern for at least the foreseeable future. Here's hoping, as there has not been any meetings yet this year. Now another circuit is under threat, and to my way of thinking just as important as the potential loss historically of DP. The East London circuit is being threatened by the local council of being turned into a University or some such. The circuit is in fact a public set of roads, and in the recent past has had less than beneficial motorclub oversight, which is why the council are talking about this move. I have been talking with the new people from the club about what they must do to stop this, and using the DP example to boost their spirits. I have offered them whatever help I can in this endevour, and they have asked if I would ask all of you what and how you galvanised local and other support in DP's problems. The slight problem that I have is that I am 700 miles away from East London but manage to get down their at least once a year on my official duties. My feeling is that this place is important because it is still as originally raced by the SA Grand Prixes. The original pre war circuits are to a major extent still in existance and boy oh boy are they something to drive. If there is any one out there who is willing to help in saving this ultra classic circuit, could they message me so that I can pass the wisdom on to these boys, as otherwise one of the "originals" will disappear under concrete. My final comment on this place is what Julian Bailey said to me about "Potters"; "Christ I have never driven a car that fast through a corner before." Our Superbike Challenge people take it flat and accelerating at 260kph. The next corner that you are accelerating at is a hairpin in 2nd. Next stop the Indian Ocean if you get it wrong. Please, any advice, thoughts etc would be most appreciated, even notes that they can take to the council from foreign people not to carry on with their intentions will help. Thanks for reading.

I just had a `drive` around the circuit courtesy of Google Earth and am very impressed by what I saw!! How many circuits in the world can boast such a nice location? If anything Jock, I would suggest a plan to get investors to get together and develop the area into some kind of resort that holds race meetings a few times a year to set the ball rolling. The water park, close proximity to a beautiful beach and the chance to build some kind of hotel facility would draw punters in.
There also looks to be a cracking little go-kart track there aswell which could be used all year round. First things first there needs to be enough support for such development to go ahead (from all the local car clubs etc. and enthusiasts). The main thing is to get on board all the local business folk who would benefit from the income created by the racing fraternity and visitors to the track/resort.
I wish them all the luck in the world and trust that there will be enough support to see the area developed as a resort and track together - motor racing worldwide isn`t just about petrol heads thrashing around on the black stuff, it`s about all the service industry that supplies such a venue. By this I mean catering, cleaning, hotel and resort staff, local shops and towns nearby, taxi drivers and bus companies, travel agents, pubs and restaraunts.
In Donington`s case, I know of one Pub that does Bed and Breakfast about a mile and a half from the circuit, who were £30,000 DOWN in the year that Donington was out of commission!!!

I just had a `drive` around the circuit courtesy of Google Earth and am very impressed by what I saw!! How many circuits in the world can boast such a nice location? If anything Jock, I would suggest a plan to get investors to get together and develop the area into some kind of resort that holds race meetings a few times a year to set the ball rolling. The water park, close proximity to a beautiful beach and the chance to build some kind of hotel facility would draw punters in. There also looks to be a cracking little go-kart track there aswell which could be used all year round. First things first there needs to be enough support for such development to go ahead (from all the local car clubs etc. and enthusiasts). The main thing is to get on board all the local business folk who would benefit from the income created by the racing fraternity and visitors to the track/resort. I wish them all the luck in the world and trust that there will be enough support to see the area developed as a resort and track together - motor racing worldwide isn`t just about petrol heads thrashing around on the black stuff, it`s about all the service industry that supplies such a venue. By this I mean catering, cleaning, hotel and resort staff, local shops and towns nearby, taxi drivers and bus companies, travel agents, pubs and restaraunts. In Donington`s case, I know of one Pub that does Bed and Breakfast about a mile and a half from the circuit, who were £30,000 DOWN in the year that Donington was out of commission!!!

Thanks for the reply Pink Snail. Thank goodness you have reiterated what I have said to them so far, and in fact they have a ,hopefully, big historic event in 2 weeks. I am going to look at their entry lists next week to see how they are going. One of the problems in the past has been how the operating club have interacted with the local council, and Mercedes Benz. If you examine the problems that you have in the UK as a whole in selling motorsport to councils and other parties, as a viable leisure pursuit, and then multiply them ten fold, you come somewhere in relation to what we have here. How ever I was politicing today at a race meeting and the people I talked to started to see where I was coming from. A problem that one has here is that the main concentration of people who race are here in the Johannesburg region and an away race become very expensive. East London for me 3 weeks ago was a 3 day away event. If the others are joined in , Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth, it gets even more expensive. For the racers from those areas to do a series is worse because they have to do the reverse trip many more times to come to the Johannesburg region. However I will persevere, one of the areas I have told them to work on is to let the Historic Motorsport world know about the place and to try and set up a viable event(s) with good money to get foreign visitors to come there, and couple it to say to the Knysa Hill Climb event, which is our go at Goodwood FoS.I shall let them know of your moral support on this, as this will at least let them know that they are not forgotten, hopefully this will add to their incentive to put their backs to the wheel.

Who is going to the Historic Festival week-end after next? I'll be there, track-side.Not sure about parking the Elan in the infield "Clubs Enclosure", not at all convenient for where I want to be and it looks like a single-file exit might be on the cards, making a long day into a very long day.

Bloody madness. They need planning permission to put the infield straight? In a sane world, the Council would be ordering them to do it on aesthetic grounds. Anyway, it only needs a quick once over to level it, and then seed it with grass. As Martin Brundle might say, get a pikey to do it for a couple of hundred quid, cash in hand.

...it only needs a quick once over to level it, and then seed it with grass. As Martin Brundle might say, get a pikey to do it for a couple of hundred quid, cash in hand.

Given its location, if they dig down a bit, they might find the remains of an English king (or queen), though bearing in mind the current media silliness, I hope all nipples will be decently covered...

Effectively the new planning consent has to overturn the previous one that was only partly executed. As things are, unless the time specified for completion has passed, they could start work on completing whatever was supposed to be there under existing consents.Once they get consent, call in the pikeys

Effectively the new planning consent has to overturn the previous one that was only partly executed. As things are, unless the time specified for completion has passed, they could start work on completing whatever was supposed to be there under existing consents.Once they get consent, call in the pikeys

Doesn't it count as a temporary structure, so subject to different rules (like the grandstands at Brands are/were)?

Effectively the new planning consent has to overturn the previous one that was only partly executed. As things are, unless the time specified for completion has passed, they could start work on completing whatever was supposed to be there under existing consents.Once they get consent, call in the pikeys

Doesn't it count as a temporary structure, so subject to different rules (like the grandstands at Brands are/were)?

The Donington infield was going to be "a new pit complex" according to that press report and modern pit arrangements are far from temporary. The grandstand at Brands that I remember was a substantial building with the timekeepers' box and CotC's office in it - the scaffold jobs at Silverstone on the other hand were certainly of temporary standard, though they weren't moved for decades.

Doesn't it count as a temporary structure, so subject to different rules (like the grandstands at Brands are/were)?

The Donington infield was going to be "a new pit complex" according to that press report and modern pit arrangements are far from temporary. The grandstand at Brands that I remember was a substantial building with the timekeepers' box and CotC's office in it - the scaffold jobs at Silverstone on the other hand were certainly of temporary standard, though they weren't moved for decades.

Allan, as Sterling will no doubt confirm, Brands had at least one rickety grandstand structure out in the boondocks that appeared and disappeared according to event and anticipated audience size. But yes, the main Start-Finish line grandstand was/is very 'untemporary' - I've sat in the press box underneath it often enough. Also the later Grovewood Suite (or whatever it's called these days) on the outside of Clearways. Reminds me I really must get to Brands again soon, long time no visit.

As an aside on Planning Law, at school we had an Armoury building that was officially a temproary structure - erected in the late 1920s, I believe, still serving its purpose when I was there in the late '60s and only demolished to make room for some new teaching facilities (funny priorities, I know).

The grandstand at Brands that I remember was a substantial building with the timekeepers' box and CotC's office in it - the scaffold jobs at Silverstone on the other hand were certainly of temporary standard, though they weren't moved for decades.

For the big meetings scaffolding stands were erected at Clearways, on the approach to Paddock Hill Bend and also in the dip at the bottom of Paddock Hill Bend. BTW back in 1962 the grandstand on the outside of Clearways was known as "Little Britches Grandstand" and there was the Portobello grandstand on the outside of Hawthorn Hill Bend. I also remember a raised standing area on the inside approaches to Druids which was supposed to be for photographers (Kodak & Ilford being used in the name from time to time).